Cycling UK Forum

I have always meant to go to Corsica - I'll think about that, thanks for the suggestion

Hey - thanks for all the replies, much appreciated! I'll look into all of them over the weekend & augment the (big) cable lock that I normally use for touring with a D Lock. Usually wear valuables but consider myself duly warned, so thanks dodger. Shame about the Digne train - I could fold the Bike Friday but guess it'd be way too big so pedalling it is...

I've just booked a last minute week starting & leaving from Nice airport next week. Haven't been there for years, just want to pootle about a bit & have a break. Can anyone recommend any campsites (ideally cheap & fairly simple - less of the giant resort variety!); reasonable maps & nice places to go with a bike - I can imagine that the coast road is a bit hellish!

How much did it cost to fix it? Genuine question?? Would that money not have been better spent on Barmouth Bridge had they done a decent job originally??

That I don't know, but honestly, fancy laying the boards lengthways in the first place.

I am especially interested in Cycle Route planning or lack of it in N Wales.

Me too. There was a consultation exercise last week for Active Travel in Machynlleth, I only found it by accident as it was in the building where I have an office, no one else knew it was on. Powys has one cycling officer who I suspect is part time & must be rushed off her feet, so what hope for a wider strategy?

Don't misunderstand me, I like a bit of artwork but one needs to get the structure correct first time around and that must be the priority for the finance.

Indeed, I agree, but I suspect that as it was a Millennium celebration exercise it was all about making a big impression rather than providing sound infrastructure & so attracted money that way. I have to confess I don't much like the look of it either but I guess these things are a matter of personal taste & now that the surface has been correctly laid it does at least provide some alternative to the bridge & the main road.

I hope you can use your local knowledge to achieve a good solution for everybody on this one. Beware it will cost you time and effort, for there are intractable forces and vested interests at work.

Isn't that the way? Between this & Barmouth Bridge (which requires a total of £30k from Gwynedd Council annually I think) we've really got our work cut out. But I fear we're onto a loser with the design of the new bridge as this semi-bypass idea has huge local support, but I hope I'm wrong & that at least some useful measures can be incorporated into the design.

So let's just hear that again. Lorry drivers crash into the bridge - regularly. Obviously the fault of the bridge. The whole thing beggars belief. Training? Reconsideration of the 44 ton limit (surely that's not the limit on this bridge?). One way flow? Cameras? Stiffer fines for poor driving? Speed limit (i.e. a proper 10 mph limit)?

Yep, that's exactly how it is, & those are the kinds of interventions I'd personally prefer to see, & across the board. But it seems to be impossible to get people to have any other vision than the perceived convenience of motorists, a reliance on road haulage & the allowance of bigger & bigger wagons on the roads.

On the point about money spent on roads, whilst I would not defend every scheme without looking at it in detail, we do need to maintain roads and, sometimes, improve them.

I agree that the devil is in the detail to some extent, although I would prefer that more investment was turned to public transport for passenger use & freight. And some of the road 'improvements' have been ill thought out, the Glandyfi Bends scheme being an interesting example. Again designed to relieve a pinch point, with the usual reference to the dangers to emergency services, the scheme came in well over budget, looks absolutely awful with a vast retaining wall to the southern side involving the loss of an area of woodland, & with safety walls which prevent cyclists walkers & car passengers from seeing the beautiful views across the estuary. Most of the homeowners sold up as they'd lost their views, (the compensation for living on a main road,) & the cycle path is badly designed, being the usual partial solution for a short stretch & then spitting you dangerously back out onto the main road on a bend. Despite the consultation process, no other possible solutions were ever offered for discussion which I find a bit depressing, for example, a traffic management system may have achieved the same thing far more cheaply & without the current visual impact & disruption to locals, but my guess is that they would be reluctant to propose this inconvenience to motorists from the start. A particular bugbear of mine is that they're busily straightening & widening every bend on the main roads they can, presumably to hasten traffic progress & reduce risk to motorists, whilst two pedestrians have been killed in the last 2 years walking these main roads at night as there is no footpath. As a cyclist here I really do take my life in my hands cycling from Machynlleth to Aberdyfi on that main road, but the needs of non-drivers very much take second place to improvements for motorised vehicles. (All the main roads here are a bit dicey to say the least, & as cyclists we're used to that but the A493 really is in a league of its own! I may award it a rosette for effort.)

Perhaps they should just make it wider with a less acute Northern approach? And raise and drain the causeway. Seems like a cheaper option to me.

Yes, I'd find this more attractive, cheaper & quieter, but there is a strong school of thought that the old bridge is of historic value & must be maintained as it is. I think that (naturally enough from their point of view) Highways just want to get traffic through faster in general (fairly regardless of local visual, aural & amenity impact.) Of course everything will still grind to a halt when the railway bridge floods.

There is a cycle walking route already, the new Millenium Bridge, I guess its access path also closes in time of floods?

Yes, it also floods, is sometimes very muddy with silt from the river & involves passing through 5 gates so many cyclists who use this as a commuting route choose the road instead to save time.

The boards of the bridge are laid in the direction of travel and it is dangerous for narrow tyres.

This was sorted out a couple of years ago thank God.

Fancy subsidised artwork but impractical!!

That may be but without that financing there would be no cycle path at all

Your comment that the new bit of road will not prevent flooding concerns me. Are you sure about that?

I've lived in Mach for 23 years & the lowered road under the railway bridge floods much more frequently that the river itself by the old road bridge.

Yes, the flooding issue is recognised and this will be resolved with the new bridge.

The flooding issue won't be solved by the new bridge (more of a bypass really) as the most regular floods occur further south under the railway bridge & the new road can't bypass this. The new bridge is designed to obviate the damage caused to the old bridge by large vehicles crashing into the parapet, which happens depressingly often. Having said that, when the river does flood at the bridge itself there is a wide body of extremely fast moving deep water which is extremely unsafe to attempt to cross by bike. I know a few people who've tried & have had to be rescued under pretty frightening circumstances.

Noise emanating from the bypass is certainly one of my concerns, quite apart from the effect on the cycle paths. There have been calls by cyclists locally to ensure that a cycle/walking path is provided alongside the new bypass & bridge as they feel that the other routes will be too awkward to use in practice for various reasons, & which would also mean non-drivers could cross on the occasions when the river's up at the old bridge.

Whilst I understand the concerns of people living north of the bridge who are concerned about emergency services not being able to get through when the current bridge is out of action (due to lorry damage) it does all seem horribly short term & depressing that other solutions just aren't considered, & there was no publicity at all in the area about the 1 day so-called consultation which is also pretty frustrating. We live in a world ruled by the motoring lobby I fear. There is always money for roads in Wales even as our services are decimated by cuts.

Hi all, some friends of ours in Hungary are organising a leisurely week's cycle trip around Lake Balaton in Hungary in June & are looking for people to join them so that they can get group discounts on wine tastings etc. (It's not a commercial venture, they've just got lots of things lined up to go & see/do & want to keep costs down. They're used to organising group walking trips so it's easy for them.) They're very nice people who are completely fluent in English, & are interesting & knowledgeable - we visited them in Budapest last year & had a great time.

They've got everything set up & ready to go, it seems to be pretty cheap & should be a lot of fun. If you're interested have a look at their website
http://www.epicadventures.hu

It's not for a tour in this case - it's to cover the bikes in the house & garage, & out & about. There's some cover for touring in our current house insurance, it's just that Nationwide Anglia have hiked our house insurance premium up to ridiculous levels, & it doesn't even begin to cover the value of the bikes anyway. (Although I'd consider us very unlucky to have more than one nicked!)

Great - thanks for that link. I've got lots of others to go through from forum searches, but it really helps to have a direct recommendation

I agree with all the other replies. I have my tandem and other the other 5 bikes on the house insurance, 3 listed individually due to the value being over the £500 threshold. Any individual bike up to the value of £500 is covered whether stolen or damaged at home or on holiday on any good respectable insurance company automatically, as its listed as "any individual item up to the value of £500". If the value is above £500 then the insurance company need to know and each individual bike would be listed separately. There was no, or at least very little difference in my premiums for the increase of a few thousand in value.

A bit of a late response, but rather than start a new insurance thread I thought I'd ask who you get your house insurance from? We've just had a horrible premium renewal hike & are shopping around (we've got a few bikes & some of them are well over the usual £2k limit) & you sound like you've got a reasonable deal!

My great regret was doing just that on gravel on a veteran trike at a busy National Trust cafe. Less camber drift & more side-on wheelie coupled with broadside skid. Very red faced after that!

Thanks for all the considered replies - extremely helpful & the advice is much appreciated.

Stabilisers just make the bike into a badly designed trike! Might as well go for a proper trike....it'll ride so much better.

Yes, I'm sure that's the case, just space & weight really, plus she'll still have to learn to ride one!

Also, the weight of an adult going through stabilisers clamped to the dropouts (or thereabouts) might end up with a bent frame.

Good point - especially if it's a cheap Chinese folder

I'm thinking like you - try the two wheeler (sans stabilisers) in a controlled environment, get her confidence up and then let her go.

Yes, that'd be the ideal I think.

Another opinion shared that stabilisers are a Work Of Stan and are best avoided. Because they do turn the bike in to an inferior trike with odd steering it's entirely possible that steering not working how she expects will more likely cause a crash than anything else!

Also very true - & definitely a concern of mine. I'm quite worried about Stan now too though .

(it's reasonably common for bicyclists to get on a trike, come to a corner, and try and get around it with most of the steering effect from leaning it over. Which, when you think about it, is not a Cunning Plan... (don't ask me how I know this)).

Ah, the old two wheeler cyclist gets on trike without realising trick - don't I know it too!

Main thing that happens when people lose power is they freewheel a bit. If they're going up hill they stop and put a foot down. Unless you're attached to the pedals inna SPuD stylee or with clips and straps it's a bit of a non-issue. Having taught a few adult non-cyclists to ride I know what the apprehension looks like, but even among them it tends to disappear quite fast. If you know what you're at then the old adage about never forgetting how to ride a bike should be the main thing governing what's going on.

Agree entirely - & have said this to her so will work on this approach again. She's not nervous about balancing a bike per se - just the knee issue.

Perhaps stabilization might better be applied to the knee than to the bike?

Knee stabilisation is a brilliant idea. I'll get onto that with her & see if we can't get her onto a two wheeler asap!